John 20:11-16 “ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).” This episode is about how we don't recognize Jesus in our everyday life and also about how we don't recognize miracles if they look different than we thought they would. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Do we always recognize Jesus?
John 20:11-16 “ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).”
I was listening to this recount of the resurrection the other day and as soon as I heard these verses I thought, how many times have we seen Jesus and yet we didn’t recognize Him? Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had an encounter with Jesus and yet you didn’t know it at the time? Then when you look back you realize that must have been what it was? I think this happens more often than we think it does. God works through all of us. Did you ever have someone give you a kind word at the exact moment that you needed it? That was Jesus. Did you ever have someone bail you out of a situation that you couldn’t get out of? That was Jesus. Did you ever have something that seemed like a coincidence and yet at the same time it seemed to good to be true? That was Jesus.
Just as Mary did not recognize Jesus when she first saw Him after His resurrection, we will not always recognize Him. We probably run into him several times a day and yet we don’t recognize him. He is in each one of us. When you are being kind and showing love to others Jesus’ light is shining through you. You might not even know you are doing it, but God uses each of us to do His will. We just need to listen for His promptings. Did you ever get a feeling that you were supposed to call someone but you didn’t know why? Then when you called the person they said you made their day? That was God using you. Did you ever feel prompted to pray for someone, or give someone a hug and you didn’t understand why? That was God using you. You were the face of Jesus for that person in need at that moment. God has a plan and He allows us to be a part of it. He allows us to be the face of Jesus to others. Isn’t that amazing?
Another thing I thought of when I reread this scripture is that Mary was so focused on what she was expecting to see, Jesus in the tomb that she didn’t even realize what she was actually seeing. The verse says, “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Mary looked in the tomb and saw two angels. I feel as though that part is just skipped over. Mary not only saw two angels, but they spoke to her, they asked her a question. She answered them and told them who she was looking for and then she just turned away. I wonder what was going through her mind. I wonder how she could look at and talk to two angels and yet not even really care? Just go about her day like something miraculous didn’t just happen. It’s almost as if she didn’t realize they were angels.
I wonder how many times we have done this? I wonder how many times we have been presented with a miracle and we didn’t notice it because it wasn’t what we were looking for. For instance, my husband was not a fan of his job at one point. He had been looking for another job but couldn’t find what he was looking for. Then unexpectedly he had to leave his job that he didn’t really like. He was very upset and felt bad about it. However, the job he got was so much better than the one he had. It was actually everything he had been praying for, but didn’t realize it because it didn’t come in the way that he would have liked it to have come.
We do this a lot. We ask God for things and then when He gives us what we want we don’t recognize it if it doesn’t look like we thought it would. We ask for a new job but then get upset when we loose the old one. We ask for children but then get upset if that doesn’t look like we thought it would. Maybe we wanted boys and got girls, maybe we wanted 2 and got 3, whatever it is, we can fail to see the miracle sometimes because it looks different from what we thought it would. Sometimes our miracles can come in very unexpected ways. Sometimes people find themselves working ridiculous hours at work, never seeing their families and as much as they want to stop, they just can’t. Then something happens, usually some sort of tragedy and they finally wake up and realize this tragedy was the miracle they needed to finally wake up and put their family first.
I hope you don’t have to endure a tragedy to realize the miracles in your life. We all have miracles in our lives, big ones and small ones. If we are on the lookout for them then we will be more likely to see them. Also, if we know that Jesus is all around us, and we are on the lookout for Him, we will start to see Him more as well. The next time someone does something kind for you, know that is Jesus shining through them. The next time you feel a prompting to do something kind, even if you don’t know why and even if you don’t understand it, do it. Perhaps God is using you to be the face of Jesus for someone who really needs it. God is calling each one of us to be his disciples. Will you answer that call?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you and we are sorry if we can’t always recognize you. We are sorry if our own expectations get in the way of us noticing the miracles you are blessing us with. Lord, we ask that you open our eyes to see all the miracles that you do in our lives. Big, or small, open our eyes to let us see them. Lord, help us to hear your call and to listen to it. You are so amazing and we miss somethings because we are so stuck in our own ways. Helps us to get unstuck. Sometimes we don’t listen when your ask us to do something, help us to listen more and to do what you ask of us. You are our alighting father and we ask that you help us obey your commands. You are so good and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!